1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to decorative articles having light-reflecting glitter flakes thereon and, more particularly, to making such articles with fully glittered areas.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,377,184 to apply a tacky adhesive, preferably a polyvinylchloride plastisol, to a base fabric material in a desired pattern, and thereupon to apply or flock a plurality of bead-like pieces or particles of synthetic plastic material onto the tacky adhesive. The excess particles are then removed. The adhesive is cured by being heated. The plastic particles are thus fixedly set on the fabric material. The plastic particles actually melt slightly during the curing and fuse with the adhesive. The adhesive may be applied thicker or thinner depending on its proposed use; see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,582,440.
It is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,806,397 to apply a multitude of light-reflective flakes (also known as xe2x80x9cglitterxe2x80x9d) onto such an adhesive which has been applied to a release paper material. Each flake has an aluminum core which is coated over its entire periphery with a thin layer of a transparent polyvinylchloride. To cure the adhesive, heat is applied thereto and to the flakes on the adhesive. During this heating step, the transparent layer of polyvinylchloride that coats the flakes melts slightly and fuses with the adhesive. The flakes being essentially two-dimensional, planar and thin, e.g., on the order of 4 mils, lay flat against the release material.
It is further known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,434 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,912,065 to place a foil sheet over a plurality of discrete shaped plastic particles or beads and to fix portions of the foil sheet on upper surfaces of the particles. Thereupon, the foil sheet is peeled off the particles, leaving behind the fixed foil sheet portions which act as an irregular light-reflective surface.
Although generally satisfactory for their intended purpose, the known processes of making a light-reflective, decorative article require a great quantity of coated light-reflective flakes to be manufactured and used. The flakes tend to scatter away from one another and to fall off the base material during flocking. This leads to a sparse coverage of the flakes on areas of the adhesive to be decorated by glittering. Also, since the transparent coatings melt to different extents during curing of the adhesive, the light-reflective characteristics, as well as the adhesion force, of the flakes vary. It is difficult to predict and/or control such variations, thereby leading to non-uniform production of the decorative articles.
It is a general object of this invention to provide a novel method of making a light-reflective decorative article with fully glittered areas.
Another object of this invention is to decorate an article, such as a fabric, with light-reflective glitter flakes while avoiding the aforementioned difficulties and drawbacks of the prior art.
Still another object of this invention is to make a relatively lightweight material having a light-reflective characteristic that can readily be used in wearing apparel.
Yet another object of this invention is to make a light-reflective decorative article that can be folded, cut, rolled, sewn, draped and washed with ease, without the light-reflective glitter flakes falling off the article during such procedures.
An additional object of this invention is to provide a light-reflective fabric from which the light-reflective glitter flakes will not fall off, especially when worn.
Another object of this invention is to provide a decorative article whose areas to be glittered are fully covered.
In keeping with these objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of this invention resides, briefly stated, in a method of making a light-reflective decorative article with fully glittered areas, which comprises the steps of coating a light-reflecting foil with an adhesive substance; fixing the adhesive substance on the foil to form an adhesive-coated foil; and forming the adhesive-coated foil into a multitude of glitter flakes.
The method further includes the steps of applying a curable adhesive in a predetermined pattern on areas of a base material to be glittered, depositing the glitter flakes onto the areas of the base material, and curing the curable adhesive with heat and concomitantly causing the adhesive substance on mutually contacting flakes to become tacky and adhere the mutually contacting flakes to one another.
Thus, in accordance with this invention, it is no longer necessary to use a great quantity of light-reflective flakes because the flakes adhere to one another. The production of such decorative articles is more uniform than heretofore. The decorative articles have a richer, fuller appearance. There is a decreased tendency for the flakes to fall off during use or washing.
In the preferred embodiment, at least one surface, if not both surfaces, of the foil are coated with a particulate adhesive substance, such as a powdered resin. The resin is heated sufficiently so that it flows and solidifies in situ on the foil, prior to cutting the foil into the multitude of glitter flakes.
The curable adhesive is preferably a layer of a tacky polyvinylchloride plastisol onto which the flakes are flocked. When the plastisol is cured, by the application of heat, the flakes not only adhere to one another as described above, but also adhere to the cured plastisol.
In a variant construction, rather than coating the foil with the adhesive substance prior to cutting, the foil can first be formed into the multitude of glitter flakes. Thereafter, the flakes are mixed with the powdered adhesive substance, either in a dry state or in a wet state, to form a mixture which clings to the flakes. The mixture is applied to the plastisol and cured as before.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.